By Greg Bluestein 

May 16, 2018

The Democratic National Committee will hold a major fundraiser in Atlanta in July, part of an aggressive midterm election effort to reach 50 million left-leaning voters this year. 

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to headline the July 19 “IWillVote” gala, the first to be held outside of Washington and part of a series of events around the nation to raise money for the campaign.

The event aims to drive attention to vote in November’s midterms, when Democrats hope to flip the U.S. House and defend vulnerable seats in the U.S. Senate. Turnout typically plummets during midterm votes, and the party hopes to capitalize on Donald Trump’s presidency to reverse the trend. 

Tom Perez, the party’s chair, said the visit to Atlanta was purposeful.  

“It's no secret that Georgia is on the brink of turning blue,” he said. “If we replicate the work we did in Alabama last year and build a strong grassroots organizing infrastructure that invests in our core constituencies through the state party here in Georgia, the Peach State will be electing Democrats up and down the ballot from the school board to the Senate for years to come.”

Democrats have dreamed of retaking Georgia’s top offices since the GOP rose to power in the early 2000s, but a string of candidates running on centrist platforms failed to gain traction. 

No matter who wins Tuesday’s primary between Stacey Abrams and Stacey Evans, it will mark the first time in decades the top Democratic candidate in Georgia has raced to the party’s left flank. 

Holder, who chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said he’ll use the visit to assail Georgia Republicans who have used “racial gerrymandering to lock themselves into power and suppress the rights of minority voters.”